 
Cardinals @ FHSC
Sunday, Sept 28
Won 26-23
As of: end week 5
 |
| Standings |
W |
L |
T |
| Sonora |
4 |
1 |
0 |
|
| New Orleans |
3 |
2 |
0 |
|
| Atlanta |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
| Tampa Bay |
2 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
 |
| 
| WEEK 5 -- Arizona Cardinals at FHSC |
| Sonora steals a victory from the hungry Cardinals |
 | FB Brett Woodruff plows into the endzone for his second TD reception. |
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Sonora, CA - With under a minute to go, no timeouts remaining,
and trailing the Cardinals by four points, the FHSC offense
had one last chance. Roberts and company stepped up to
the challenge this Sunday and completed two consecutive
bombs to cover 55 yards in 30 seconds and secure a FHSC
victory
Sonora came into this match-up limping away
from Green Bay, but had expected to walk all over the
very lowly Cardinals as they had devastated the Ravens.
The Cardinals, however, had very different plans in mind
and played well enough to beat the FHSC. Cardinal QB Jake
Plummer came out gunning, with a game plan that was similar
to the one used by Mike Tice's Viking offense. "We saw
the Minnesota and Green Bay films and figured that we
could get things going against their secondary" said Plummer.
Completing their first three passes and picking up a few
yards on the ground, the Cardinals took their opening
drive all the way in for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead.
The FHSC retook the lead later in the quarter
following a 7-yard touchdown strike to TE Derek Cole,
set up by a James Butler interception, his first on the
season, and a 20-yard Ian Thorpe scamper. Unfazed by the
Sonora scores, the Cardinals mounted a 79 yard drive of
their own and capped the touch down drive with an incredible
catch by wide out Frank Sanders, giving Arizona a 14-13
advantage.
On the following drive, FHSC responded with a 77 yard scoring drive with wide receiver Eric Staley pulling in a 20-yard and a 25-yard grab. "They kept dropping back into a zone and I was able to find the deep gaps" said Staley.
The drive finished with a 19 yard strike to Brett Woodruff out of the backfield. After a failed 2-point conversion, the FHSC went into the locker room ahead of the Cardinals 19-14.
In the second half the Cardinal defense turned up the pressure and shut down the FHSC offense for a quarter and a half. "We just couldn't get anything going in the second half. They made some really good half time adjustments,
and it took us almost the whole half to respond" said head coach Morgan Crinklaw. Fortunately, the FHSC defense was also just good enough to keep their team in the game allowing only one touchdown and one field goal in the second half.
Trailing 23-19, Sonora attempted a field
goal from the Cardinal 25 yard line. When Kevin Messer's
42 yard attempt sailed just wide, Arizona took over possession
and attempted to run out the clock. In spite of two Cardinal
first downs, the FHSC defense managed to bring up an Arizona
fourth down from the Sonora 38 yard line. "With just over
30 seconds left in the game, we expected them to just
punt it away and pin our offense down deep" said defensive
coordinator Jim Wall. But instead, the Cardinals went
to strengthen their lead with a 55 yard field goal attempt.
Bill Gramatica's kick fell quite short, and the FHSc took
over at their own 55 yard line. Two plays later Roberts
made the Cardinals pay for their bad call.
On first and 10 from their own 45 yard line
with 29 seconds to play, roberts found Adam Jensen dragging
across the middle for a 23 yard completion, taking Sonora
into field goal range. But, a field goal was not going
to be good enough and with the clock rolling, Roberts
hurried the offense up to the ball. The team lined up
in a 'spike' by Roberts, but then an audible was called
out and Roberts dropped into a shotgun and snapped the
ball with a mere 9 seconds on the clock. Wide out Shane
Washburn lined up in the left slot and about ten yards
down field crossed underneath fellow receiver Eric Staley.
"Their free safety jumped on Eric as he crossed over me
and I could see only grass in front of me" said Washburn.
Roberts also saw the safety bite and unloaded the deep
pass to a wide open Washburn on the corner route. Washburn
leaped into the air and caught the pass, then accelerated
past the late breaking defenders to dive into the endzone
for the games winning touchdown.
While this week's game did not turn out to
be the blowout that Sonora was expecting, it was an important
win to get the team back on track as they head out next
week on a two game road trip with games at Dallas and
then at Atlanta before coming home to face the last place
Buccaneers. |
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